AMERICAN LEAGUE: ROUNDUP; Pinch Hit In the 10th Caps Rally

Jason Varitek's pinch-hit single in the 10th inning capped Boston's comeback from a five-run deficit and gave the Red Sox an 8-7 victory over the visiting Toronto Blue Jays last night.

Trailing by 6-1, Damon Buford's grand slam in the eighth cut it to 6-5. Mike Stanley's run-scoring single in the ninth put Toronto up by 7-5, but Randy Myers, who had converted 59 of his previous 62 save opportunities, could not get one this time.

The Red Sox tied it in the ninth on John Valentin's run-scoring double and Troy O'Leary's run-scoring single.

Tom Gordon (5-3) held Toronto scoreless in the 10th. Myers (3-3) retired the first two batters in the bottom of the inning. But Darren Lewis singled and stole second. Valentin then was walked intentionally.

Rusty Greer was 3 for 5 and drove in three runs, leading visiting Texas. Juan Gonzalez drove in a run for his major league-leading 114th runs batted in, and Bill Haselman homered and drove in two runs. Ivan Rodriguez, who had been in an 0-for-12 slump, and Mark McLemore each had three hits for Texas.

Jose Offerman was 4 for 4 for Kansas City. Jermaine Allensworth had three hits for the Royals. Greer, Gonzalez and Roberto Kelly each hit RBI singles in the third. Greer added a two-out, two-run single in the fourth for a 5-0 lead.

Reliever Xavier Hernandez (5-1) defused two Kansas City rallies in the middle innings.

ANGELS 6, TWINS 5

Craig Shipley hit a run-scoring single in the 10th inning and Anaheim, after rallying for three runs in the ninth, won at Minnesota.

The Angels trailed, 5-2, in the ninth before coming back against Rick Aguilera, who has blown 8 of 30 save chances. Tim Salmon hit a run-scoring single and Jim Edmonds tied it with a two-out, two-run single.

Anaheim loaded the bases with one out in the 10th against Hector Carrasco (3-2) on a single by Cecil Fielder, a double by Salmon and an intentional walk to Garret Anderson. Shipley followed with a bloop single to center.

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Pep Harris (2-0) got one out for the victory. Troy Percival pitched the 10th for his 29th save.

CLEVELAND TRADES

Jose Mesa, the troubled Cleveland reliever who could not close out Game 7 of last year's World Series, was traded by the Indians to the San Francisco Giants for pitcher Steve Reed in a five-player deal last night.

The American League Central-leading Indians also sent the infielder Shawon Dunston and pitcher Al Morman to the Giants, contending for the National League wild-card spot.

Cleveland got outfielder Jacob Cruz along with Reed.

Earlier in the day, the Indians acquired reliever Doug Jones from Milwaukee for pitcher Eric Plunk in a swap of veteran relievers that could signal the start of a big week of baseball trades.

With talk about the Mariners' Randy Johnson and the Orioles' Roberto Alomar cooled for now, the Indians addressed their most pressing problem -- the bullpen -- with the July 31 trade deadline approaching.

Mesa set a major league record with 46 saves in 48 chances in 1995 and was fourth in the A.L. most valuable player voting and second in the Cy Young race.

TIGERS 3, INDIANS 2

Damion Easley extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a single in the sixth inning and scored the go-ahead run on Bobby Higginson's single as Detroit won at Cleveland.

Easley, who also had a 19-game hitting streak earlier this season, became the first Tigers player to have two streaks that long in the same season since 1953, when the team began keeping such records. Alan Trammell had streaks of 18 and 21 games in 1987.

MINORS

Nokes Suspended In Attack of Mascot

Catcher Matt Nokes, a former Yankee and American League All-Star, was suspended one game and fined $25 for attacking an independent league mascot who would not stop jumping on his team's plywood dugout during a game on July 11.

Nokes plays for the St. Paul Saints of the Northern League in Winnipeg.(Bloomberg News)

Chasing Maris

A comparison (by number of games played) of Roger Maris's record season of 61 home runs in 1961, Babe Ruth's 1927 season of 60 homers and the 1998 seasons of Mark McGwire, Ken Griffey Jr., Sammy Sosa, and Greg Vaughn.

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A version of this article appears in print on July 24, 1998, on Page C00007 of the National edition with the headline: AMERICAN LEAGUE: ROUNDUP; Pinch Hit In the 10th Caps Rally. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe